FamilySearch

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Mormon Family History

FamilySearch International is a non-profit genealogical website run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often inadvertently called the Mormon Church. Because the Church of Jesus Christ feels it is important that anyone who is interested is able to learn about his or her family history, the website (as well as other Family History resources) is available to anyone from any religious background or culture. The website is a tremendous resource through which the Church provides records it has been gathering over a hundred years.

Doing genealogy (family history work) is important to members of the Church of Jesus Christ because its doctrine teaches that life does not end with death. (See Plan of Salvation.) Family units can continue after death when members make and keep special covenants made in the temple. People who have passed away can also make these covenants and be united with their families throughout eternity. This work, however, must be done by proxy, where living persons stand in on behalf of deceased persons. Once the work is done for a specific person, that person can then choose if he would like to accept it or not. Members of the Church feel it is vitally important that all who have passed away at least have the option to choose. In order to do this work, Church members must be able to identify their ancestors, which leads to family history work.

The Church of Jesus Christ has set up many family history centers (now called FamilySearch Centers) through the world where people can go and get assistance with finding their ancestors. The Church has a large FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, where anyone can go and receive expert assistance. With the development of the internet, Church leaders saw the potential to assist people in doing their family history work and launched the FamilySearch website. To use FamilySearch, visit www.familysearch.org. You can then register free of charge with the website. When registering, you will be asked for Church membership information, but this is optional and can be left blank. (In fact, it is estimated that most of the users of the website are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ.) The website will then provide you with your own place to share records with people and turn records in to the Church that you have found through other sources, so that other people searching for their family history will have access to them. This is also optional.

If you are just starting family research, you can find helpful tips found on the home page screen. If you are stuck, and cannot find anything, another option is to locate a FamilySearch Center in your area. This source is located on the FamilySearch home page on the navigation bar in the form of a map bubble icon. You can also select "See the options" on the home page. Like the website, the services offered at FamilySearch Centers are free. There are volunteers there who can help you locate things you might not find otherwise or explain how to get started.

Ordinances Ready

The process of finding a family name to take to the house of the Lord has never been easier.

With the click of a button, a tool on the FamilySearch Family Tree app called Ordinances Ready searches a member’s family tree to find an ancestor for whom ordinance work can be performed. The member then selects an ordinance and brings the name to the temple. If a relative is not found, Ordinances Ready can provide a name from a member’s ward or stake.

The simplicity of Ordinances Ready is “striking,” but many people may not have used it before and therefore do not know how simple it is, Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said in the 2023 Temple and Family History Leadership Instruction.

The goal of Ordinances Ready is to simplify the process of finding, submitting, and performing ordinances for kindred dead, said Elder Kevin S. Hamilton, a General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Family History Department.

“We are trying to make it as simple as possible so that anyone can do it, including those that perhaps are not very experienced with family history,” he said.

Ordinances Ready was launched in 2018 in response to the question, "How can we make this easier?" “Family history and genealogy, by nature, can be complicated. It requires a lot of knowledge and experience. For 95 percent of us it is a roadblock because we do not know quite what to do,” he said. “What we really want to do is just take a family name to the temple and perform ordinances.”

A team of FamilySearch engineers and computer scientists tackled the challenge by studying how people interact with technology and the process for submitting a temple name. They eventually came up with an automated approach that became Ordinances Ready,

“I have seen 11-year-olds and 93-year-olds use this, and you do not have to know much about technology,” Elder Hamilton said. “You do need to have a FamilySearch account and know how to open that account and look at your family tree. But literally, with a few keystrokes, every person can have a name. Most of the time it will be family related ... and that will enhance, improve, and bless your temple worship experience in a remarkable way.”[1]

Ordinances Ready is available on the Family Tree app and on the FamilySearch website under "Temple" on the navigation bar.

History

FamilySearch International began as the Genealogical Society of Utah. The Genealogical Society of Utah was created on November 13, 1894, under the direction of Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The new organization was founded with three main goals — collecting, establishing and maintaining a genealogical library; disseminating genealogical information; and acquiring records to perform temple ordinances.

On the 130th anniversary on November 13, 2024, FamilySearch is one of the world’s largest genealogical organizations, with more than 1.5 billion people in its collaborative online family tree and 18 billion searchable historical records and images. In addition to having the single largest genealogical library in the world in Salt Lake City, FamilySearch has also established over 6,000 FamilySearch centers (branches) worldwide.[2]

Updates

2024 Update

Church members all over the world are using FamilySearch to connect with ancestors and come closer to Christ. The Church News highlighted several projects, such as FamilySearch at the First Exhibition of Historical Documents, held by the Provincial Municipality of Huancayo, Peru; and the new FamilySearch website and app built specifically for family history work in Africa. In many African cultures, records were memorized and recited orally by designated members of a tribe or village. But several years ago, FamilySearch began visiting villages, recording these oral records. Separate teams then transcribed the information to make it searchable.[3] Other projects featured took place in Lithuania, Bolivia, and Ireland.

Latter-day Saint FamilySearch users can access Storied[4] to create fuller, richer accounts of their ancestors’ lives. On November 18, FamilySearch announced a collaboration with Storied allowing Latter-day Saint FamilySearch users to receive free Storied subscriptions. They can subscribe at www.familysearch.org/en/access/storied. Storied allows users to a build a “social graph” of information from their ancestors’ friends, teachers, religious leaders and others who influenced them. Storied’s worldwide records collection dates back to 1607 and includes nearly a billion records, including newspapers, obituaries, birth and marriage announcements, as well as census, immigration and military information. Creator Kendall Hulet said the idea for Storied came from a 2013 New York Times article: “The Stories That Bind Us” by Bruce Feiler. In it, Feiler presents research showing that a child with a “strong family narrative” — who knows stories about their ancestors, beyond lists of names and dates — is more resilient than a child who isn’t as familiar with their family history.

The concept stuck with Hulet, and he began considering ways that people could develop strong family narratives through the lens of genealogy. Now, with the new FamilySearch collaboration, Hulet said FamilySearch users can import their photos, memories and other data directly to Storied. From there, they can try out Storied’s family group feature, which allows users to invite other family members to collaborate on shared stories and family trees. “It’s almost like Facebook meets FamilySearch.”[5]

25 years old!—FamilySearch.org was launched in May 1999 in response to the need to double "the names being provided for temple work" due to President Hinckley's doubling the number of working temples worldwide. This same year, FamilySearch International celebrated its 130 anniversary. Read "‘Prophetically directed’: Reflecting on the historic launch of FamilySearch.org 25 years later".

2023 Update

The Family History Library on Temple Square in Salt Lake City is now known as the FamilySearch Library. Also, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ 5,700-plus family history centers around the world are now FamilySearch centers. You have access to more records at a FamilySearch center than you can find on the website. Plus, you can also access other premium resources all for free.

The Church announced in September that FamilySearch will open a new center in North Logan, Utah, on Monday, September 25, at 165 East 2200 North in North Logan.

2022 Update

At the beginning of 2022, FamilySearch now offers more than 14.3 billion searchable names and images from historical records from ancestral homelands all over the globe. Enhancements in 2021 that visitors can now enjoy include new discovery pages for ancestors in the family tree. These pages are an easy way to see your relative’s life story at a glance, view photos and stories, and understand the historical events that family members may have lived through. FamilySearch.org had 200 million visits.

2021 Update

FamilySearch.org experienced over 200 million visits in 2021. The Church of Jesus Christ announced on September 21, 2021, that the global effort to digitize FamilySearch's collection of millions of rolls of microfilm is now complete. This milestone took 83 years to complete. The archive containing information on more than 11.5 billion individuals is available to the public on FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch’s database now includes more than 14.3 billion searchable names and images from historical records — such as birth, death, marriage, census, military service and immigration documents — from all over the globe. Over 200 countries and principalities and more than 100 languages are represented in the digitized documents. In addition to preservation professionals in the Church History Department, the effort also involved Church staff and senior missionaries who visited many religious and government archives worldwide over the past eight decades. The microfilm will continue to be stored and preserved in the Church’s physically secured and climate-controlled archives.

FamilySearch is also in the process of digitizing its large microfiche collection, which should be completed in the next several years, according to the news release. Microfiche stores exposures of documents on flat sheets of images rather than reels.

2014 Update

OCLC has partnered with URL FamilySearch International to share data between WorldCat and the FamilySearch Catalog. As a result, more than 1 million FamilySearch genealogical records are now discoverable in WorldCat, the world’s largest database of records representing resources in libraries worldwide. Links to WorldCat are now available on FamilySearch.org.

The partnership between OCLC and FamilySearch is an ongoing effort to improve and enhance the tools available for genealogy researchers throughout the world.

Those who use the FamilySearch Catalog now have access to local histories of counties, cities, and regions; maps, photos, and other images; local biographies and profiles of prominent citizens; and city directories, catalogs, inventories, and original manuscript materials.

Those who begin their research by using WorldCat will have access to collections from FamilySearch that include historic documents of genealogical value, including: civil registration records; church records; probate, census, land and tax records; military records; family histories; clan and lineage genealogies; and oral pedigrees.

Many FamilySearch records added to WorldCat represent large collections of vital information, such as birth and death records from localities all over the world. If digitized, these records link back to FamilySearch.org where they can be viewed online. If on film, these records can be requested from FamilySearch to a satellite or affiliate FamilySearch Family History Center. FamilySearch records with a corresponding WorldCat record will indicate a library or libraries that hold the item.

This means genealogists using the FamilySearch Catalog may now be able to find additional copies of books and other sources at libraries closer to them. Many additional materials related to their research that are not in the FamilySearch collection will also be discoverable in the collections of other libraries that include their holdings in WorldCat.

In 2013 he Church of Jesus Christ announced updates that will enhance the experience for anyone using FamilySearch.org. "Families can now share and preserve for posterity those social heirlooms that help vitalize their family history." [6] New collaborative features mean that "... individuals can collaboratively build their shared family tree, starting with themselves and then expanding to past generations."

All of the features and services on FamilySearch.org are available in 10 languages. A robust collection of free how-to videos and other online resources are available as well. Just click on the help button on the site for more details.
  • 3.2 million indexed records and images from Austria, BillionGraves, Brazil, Italy, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the United States were added in December 2013. Included in these records are images from the Brazil, Sao Paulo, Immigration Cards, 1902–1980; South Africa, Eastern cape, Estate Files, 1962–2004; South Africa, Western Cape, Estate Files, 1966–2004; Austria, Seigniorial Records, 1537–1888; Italy, Catania, Caltagirone, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1861–1941; Russia, Nizhni Novgorod Poll Tax Census (Revision Lists), 1782–1858. Also included are indexed records from the U.S., Minnesota, Naturalization Card Index, 1930–1988 collection; and Spain, Province of Sevilla, Municipal Records, 1293–1966. For more information, go to FamilySearch.org[7].

The new enhancements follow the trends in social networking and collaboration through media. The Church of Jesus Christ is encouraging its youth to become involved in Family History, especially because of their abilities with technology.

Even if an ancestor's information is not available, FamilySearch adds more than a million images of historic records and newly searchable names almost every day. With the amount of records being added, things can change in a family line quickly, so it's important to check back often.

Resources and References

See also Family History, FamilySearch Library, RootsTech, The Family: A Proclamation to the World

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